Electric signal system for railways.



No. 718,233. 7 PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903; J. w. WILLIAMS.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR B-AILWAYS. APPLICATION FILED MAY '1, 1902.

N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

anventoz TH: norms PETERS co, wow-Luna. wgsnwa'mm u c I PATENTEDJAN.13,1903. I J. W. WILLIAMS. i

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.'

APPLICATION FILED MAY 7, 9 V N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

110. 718,233. v PATENTED JAN; 13, 1903. 'J. w. WILLIAMS.

ELECTRIC SIGNAL SYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

v APPLIOATIOE FILED MAY 71 1902. N0 MODEL. 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

. WHIJQSSS iazmma,

UNITED TATES' ATENT FFICE.

JAMES WILLIAM WILLIAMS, OF SPOKAISE, WASHINGTON.

ELECTRIC SIGNALSYSTEM FOR RAILWAYS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 718,233, dated January13, 1903.

Application filed May 7, 1902. Serial No. 106,308. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, J AMES WILLIAM WIL- LIAMS, of Spokane, in the countyof Spokane and State of Washington, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Electric Signal Systems for Railways, of which thefollowing is a specification.

. The invention has relation to that system of electric signaling inwhich the several blocks or sections of the railway are combined withelectric signal-circuits and connections adapted to be operated by apassing train in such manner that the said circuits shall beautomatically completed and broken as the train enters and leaves thesuccessive sections or blocks to which such circuits pertain.

My invention consists of certain improvements on this kind of anelectric signaling system, which will first be described in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, andwill then be more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view, mainly diagrammatic, of an electricsignaling system embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a view of one of thecircuit making and breaking levers to be operated by the passing train.The construction of the lever-whether C or Ois the same. Fig. 3 is adiagrammatic representation of a system in which the succes-.

sive signal-circuits overlap instead of following one another, as inFig. 1. Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic representation of a modification inwhich insulated track-sections are employed instead of the levers O O ofthe preceding figures.

In Fig. 3 I have represented three overlapping signal-circuits. Theconnections and ap pliances of each circuit are the same, and I havetherefore omitted these from two of the circuits as unnecessary to anunderstanding of the particular modification illustrated in this figure.

In Fig. l, which represents a single block, A B 'arethe feed-wires, towhich the several signal-circuits pertaining to the railway blocks orsections are connected, these wires extending along the track and beingsupported on poles or otherwise, as may be found to be convenient. Theyare supplied with moving in one direction and those on theother side ofthe track being operated by trains moving in the other direction, and inthis event I prefer that, the signals operated by the train shall be onthe left side of the track relatively to the movement of said trains, sothat the engineer of that train may have on his right hand, (which isthe side of the cab on which he usually sits,) the signals controlled byanytrain moving in the opposite direction, the latter signals being thusunder his more immediate observation. The signal circuits and appliancesare the same on both sides of the track, save that thesignal-circuitclosing appliances for a train moving in one direction areat the opposite end of the block from that at which the circuit-closingappliances for a train moving in the opposite direction are located. Thesame is also true of the circuit-opening appliances. I prefer to useelectric lamps as signals, and in this event I prefer to use lamps ofdifferent colors for opposite sides of the.tracksay purple for one sideand blue for the other-s0 as to prevent the engineer from confusing hislights on curves and the like with those pertaining to trains moving inan opposite direction.

Assuming there is a train. moving on the track in Fig. 1 in thedirection of the arrow w, the circuits and appliances on the left of thetrack (relatively to the direction of movement) will be affected. Thesedevices and their mode of operation are as follows: 0 is a hinged lever(shown in detail in Fig. 2) which (together with the mechanical partswith which it is associated) is to be inclosed v at s, Fig. 2) forreturning it to normal (and consequently breaking the contact between (1and e) when the train ceases to act on it. It is through theseinstrumentalities that the signal-circuit pertaining to the block iscompleted. The signal-circuit, or lamp-circuit as I shall term it, islettered L, and it contains two electric lamps Z Zin multiple, locatedone at or near opposite ends of the block. The lamp-circuit is connectedto the feed-wire A by wire Z, and it is electrically connected to thecontact 6 by wire 1 From the movable contact cl a wire Z extends to theother feed-wire B, this wire Z including the coil or coils of arelay-magnet M. This wire 1 for a purpose hereinafter mentioned, iselectrically connected at Z to the soft-iron core of the magnet. Thearmature-lever N and its armature n of the relay-magnet are electricallyconnected to the wire Z by a branch wire Z around the train-controlledcontacts at and e. These devices constitute what may be called anestablishing-circuit or a circuit for establishing and maintainingelectrical connection between the feed-wire and the signal-circuit. Whenby the passing train the lever C is struck so as to bring 11 and 6 intocontact, the signal-circuit L will be completed, and the lampsl thereinwill be illuminated, the circuit at this time being from A, through Z Land the lamps l therein in multiple Z e d Z and coils of relay M, to B.As soon as the train entering the block passes the lever C the circuitwill be broken at (Z 6; but it will still remain intact, being completedby the branch Z from wire Z the circuit thence being from said branch Zthrough armature-lever N and armature n, (which by the previous closingof the circuit through the contacts (2 01 had been closed upon the coreof relay magnet M,) magnet-core m, connection Z, magnet-coils, wire Z tofeed-wire B. The lamps I will thus re main illuminated, and thiscondition of atfairs will continue until the train reaches the other endof the block. At or near the end of the block last referred to there islocated a lever O, and contacts d e are similar in construction andoperation to the parts 0 cl e, already described, but designed toshort-circuit or cut out the magnet M, and thus break the lamp-circuitwhen the train leaves the block. To this end the contact (1 is connectedby Wire Z to the lamp-circuit L, and the contact e is connected to the Bfeedwire by a wire Z and thus when the passing train moves over lever C,and consequently depresses arm d into contact with e, the circuit,following the path of least resistance, will be from A through I,lamp-circuit L, wire Z contacts d 6', wire Z to B. The short circuitthus established will cut out the relay-magnet M and the armature-leverN will rise, thus destroying the connection through which the circuitthrough the relay-coils is maintained, and consequently when after thetrain passes the lever C rises and breaks the contact at d e thelamp-circuit will be broken and will remain so until another trainenters the block. The train after leaving one block enters upon the nextblock, which is provided with the same system of circuits and appliancesand where the same sequence of operations as already described takesplace, and so on indefinitely. It will be noted that only trains whichmovein the direction of the arrowwwill operate the levers O O on theleft side of the track. Those moving in the opposite direction willdepress these levers, to be sure, but in the opposite direction, wherethey will have no infiuence whatever upon their contact-arms d d, andcorrespondingly trains moving over the track in an opposite direction tothe arrowa; will operatively affect only the levers G C on the side ofthe track opposite that on which are located the levers O G to beoperatively affected by trains moving in the direction of arrow as. Thesignal-circuit to be operated and controlled by trains moving over thetrack from right to left is lettered L.

Thus although trains may move in both directions upon the same track,yet only those circuits and appliances will be operated by the trainwhich pertain to trains moving in the same direction with that train. Itwill be noted that in the system thus far described the train quits onesignal-section before or at the time of entering upon the next; but thesignal-sections, so far as the several signalcircuits are concerned, maybe overlapping, the train entering upon a section and setting thesignals in that section before quitting the last preceding section. Thiswill permit the engineer of the moving train to always have a light bothbefore and behind his train at such distance as may be desired. Thisisexemplified in Fig. 3, where I have illustrated the overlapping systemas applied to but one side of the track only, although, of course, for asingle-track road it will be applied in the same way, mutat-is mutandis,to the other side of the track also. In this figure We will assume thatthe block typified by one lampcircuit L is, say, four miles in length.These lamp-circuits, as will be seen, overlap each other by half alength-that is to say, by the time the train has traversed half of onesection it will meet the entrance-lamp of the next succeedinglamp-circuit and the appliances for establishing that circuit, so thatby the time the train reaches the far end of any one block andshort-circuits the lamps in that block it will have, some two milesbefore it and behind it, the already-illuminated lamps of the nextsucceeding block. I have omitted from the figure last referred to themechanical details described and illustrated in the preceding figures asunnecessary and have made it almost if not wholly diagrammatic.

In the preceding figures the mechanical devices for making and breakingthe signal or lamp circuits have been represented as located alongsideof the track in position to be mechanically actuated by the passingtrain,

butin lieu of this I can make use of short insulated track-sections, thecircuit connections being completed through the opposite rails of thesesections and the car wheels and axle by which they may be bridged. Thismodification is represented in Fig. 4, wherein I have represented onefull block equipped for trains moving in either direction over a singletrack. Inasmuch as this modification requires at each end of the blockan insulated track-section by which the entering train can bring intooperation the signals or lamps pertaining to its side of the track, andinasmuch as the train which is quitting the block must pass over thistrack-section, as well as the one which is entering the block, itfollows that the lampspertaining to that side of the track belonging tothe entering train will be lighted byan oppositely-moving train quittingthe block. To remedy this, means must be provided by which the quittingtrain is caused to extinguish the lamps thus-lighted by it. The block isof course provided at opposite ends with a lamp-circuit closer and alampcircuit breaker, the circuit-closer for the entering train and thecircuit-breaker for the oppositely-moving or quitting train beinglocated at the same end of the block. In addition to these two devices Iprovide a third device at each end of the block in the nature of acircuit-breaker, by which the quitting train after having momentarilyclosed the lamp-circuit appropriate to the entering train is caused tobreak that circuit. This arrange ment is illustrateddiagrammatically inFig.- 4. At each end of the single-track block there are three insulatedtrack-sections T T T The inner track-section T pertains to thecircuit-closing devices of the lamp-circuit of the train entering theend of the block at or near which said section is located. The middlesection T is a track-section by which the oppositely-moving outgoingtrain is caused to break the circuit which it has closed by its passageover T, and the outer section T pertains to the circuit-breaking devicesof the lamp circuit appropriate to the outgoing train. In other words,the two sections T T at each end of the block in fact correspond in ageneral way to the two levers O O at each end of the block in thearrangements previouslydescribed. ThethirdsectionT?isadded at each endfor the purpose just above indicated. L is the lamp-circuit for thetrains moving from left to right. L is the lampcircuit for the trainsmoving from right to left. Corresponding letters and figures ofreference at the opposite ends of the block indicate correspondingparts. The relay-magnet M at each end corresponds in function to therelay-magnet already described, and, similarly, the lamp-circuit isestablished temporarily at first through the coils of the magnet by adirect connection from T (the instrumentality corresponding in thismodification to the lever O in the system already described) and thenpermanently through the coils by way of the core and armature-lever anda branch connection from the lamp-circuit. Theappliancesandcircuitconnections are-as follows: Considering the left-hand end of the block,the feed-wire A is connected by wire 1 to lamp-circuit L. From thelatterleads a wire 2,which,bya bridge-Wire 2 ,is connected.

to the adjoining rails H (on the same side of the track) of the twoabutting insulated tracksections T T The opposite rails 25 t of thesetwo sections are connected the one, 25, by

wire 3 with the coils of relay M, the other, i

by a bridge-wire 5 with the adjoining rail 25 connections and appliancesat the right-hand end of the block are thetsame as those at theleft-hand end and bear the same reference characters. If a train entersthe block at the left-hand end and traverses it from left to right thesequence of operations, assuming both lamp-circuits L L to be open, willbe as follows: The train first meets the outer track-section T at theleft-hand end of the block and passes over it without affecting anyportion of the system except to momentarily excite the lamps in circuitL. It next meets and spans the middle track-section T with the effect ofmomentarily establishing the lamp-circuit L, the circuit being fromfeed-wire A through wire 1, lamp-circuit L, wire 2 2 rail 29, thencethrough car wheels and axle to Z thence through 5, i 6 to feed-wire B.This circuit is not through the relay-magnet M, and consequently it willbe broken as soon as the train leaves sectionT The train after passingfrom section T? meets and spans section T. A circuit is then establishedas follows: from feed-Wire A, through wire 1, lamp-circuit L, wires 2 2rail t, through car Wheels and axle torail t, thence bywire 3 to andthrough coils of relay-magnet M, thence by wire 4: to rail 6 and thenceby wire 5, rail 1?, and wire 6, to B feed-wire. The magnet M beingexcited will attract its armature n, so that by the time the trainleaves section T a branch will be established through wire 7 by whichthe lamp-circuit is maintained, the circuit then being from A, through1, L, 7, N, n, m, Z coils of magnet M, 4, t 5, t 6, to B. The Llamp-circuit thus established is maintained until the train reaches thefar or right-hand end of the block,

where it meets in succession the insulated.

magnet M of lamp-circuit L, and conse quently the latter circuit isinterrupted as soon as the train travels beyond section T and in passingover the last and outermost section T the train short-circuits themagnet M of its own circuit L, the path of least resistance, andconsequently the flow of current being from A, throughl, lamp-circuit L,S, it, through car wheels and axle t 6, to B. The magnet-relay M is thusdeenergized, the contact at n m is broken, with the result that when thetrain passes out beyond T its lampcircuit L is open. The same sequenceof operations takes place in the case of a train entering the block atthe right-hand end and traversing it from right to left, save that inthis case the signal or lamp circuit L is established and not L. Thelamp or signal circuits under this plan can be duplicated indefinitelyand can be arranged, as previously described, either to follow one afterthe other or to overlap one another.

There may be as many lamps as desired in each signalcircuit. I prefertwo-one at each end of the block; butin the case of a doubletrack roadit may be necessary to have only a signal behind the train, and in thatevent there may be only one light, located at the entrance to the block.Signals other than electric lamps can be used; but I prefer the lamps. Ifind that when they are suitably boxed and housed they can be seen, evenin the day-time, a long distance off. In practice I propose to use forone light two or more lamps to provide against the contingency of one ofthem burning out.

The system herein described can be applied also to switches and sidetracks and will be found well adapted for use in connection withroad-yards. It is also available for railwaycrossings to indicate theapproach of a train, the lamps for this purpose being located at thecrossing and being lighted when the train is within a predetermineddistance of the crossing.

Having described my invention and the best way now known to me ofcarrying the same into effect, what I claim as new, and de sire tosecure by Letters Patent, is as follows:

1. In an electric signaling system for railways, the combination of mainor feed wires, a signal-circuit and electrically-operated signalappliances therein, an establishing-circuit between the signal-circuitand the feed-wires completed initially through normally open contactsadapted to be temporarily closed by a passing train, a relay the coilsof which are included in the establishing-circuit and are excited whenthe train-controlled contacts are temporarily closed, and a branchconnection around said train-controlled contacts, which also includesthe relay-coils and is completed through normally open contactscontrolled by the relay, whereby the establishing-circuit is maintainedafter the opening of the traincontrolled contacts, substantially as andfor the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

2. In an electric signaling system for railways, the combination of mainor feed wires, a signal-circuit and electrically-operated signalappliances therein, an establishing-circuit between the feed-wires andsignal-circuit completed initially through normally open contactslocated at or near one end of the block and adapted to be temporarilyclosed by a passing train; a relay the coils of which are included inthe establishing-circuit and are excited when the train-controlledcontacts are temporarily closed; a branch connection around saidtrain-controlled contacts which also includes the relay-coils and iscompleted through normally open contacts controlled by the relay,whereby the establishing-circuit is maintained through the coils of therelaymagnet after the opening of the said traincontrolled contacts; andconnections completed through normally open contacts located at or nearthe other end of the block and adapted to be closed temporarily by thepassing train, for short-circuiting the relay-magnet, substantially asand for the purpose hereinbefore set forth.

3. In an electrical block-signaling system for single-track railwayshaving two distinct signal-circuits and electrically-operated appliancestherein one for trains moving in one direction and the other for trainsmoving in the opposite direction over the block, in combination withfeed-wires and two signal-circuits L, L, of three insulatedtrack-sections T, T T at each end of the block, and connections betweenthe same and the feedwires, the several signal-circuits and theelectrical appliances therein, these parts being combined and adapted tooperate substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 25th day of April,1902.

JAMES WILLIAM WILLIAMS.

WVitnesses:

EVVELL A. DICK, E. K. LUNDY, Jr.

